Indian individuals and films have received or been nominated in different categories of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscar). , 18 Indians have been nominated and 10 have won Oscars including in the scientific and technical and honorary category.
At the 30th Academy Awards, Mehboob Khan's 1957 Hindi-language film Mother India was India's first submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film category. It was nominated alongside four other films and lost to the Italian film Nights of Cabiria (1957) by one vote. In 1982, The National Film Development Corporation of India was instrumental in co-producing Richard Attenborough's biographical film Gandhi.Wakeman, John. World Film Directors, Volume 2. The H. W. Wilson Company. 1988. 82. At the 55th Academy Awards, Bhanu Athaiya became the first Indian to win an Academy Award for designing the costumes. Ravi Shankar was nominated for Best Original Score for the same film. As of 2023, three Indian films have been nominated for Best International Feature Film — Mother India, Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Lagaan (2001).
In 1992, legendary Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray was bestowed with an Academy Honorary Award. He became the only Indian to date to receive the honour. In 2000, M. Night Shyamalan became the first Indian-American to receive an Oscar nomination for his 1999 film The Sixth Sense. He was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay respectively. Currently, Shyamalan is the only person of Indian heritage to be nominated in those categories.
A. R. Rahman and Resul Pookutty won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing and Best Original Score, respectively, for the 2008 British film Slumdog Millionaire. Rahman also won for Best Original Song alongside lyricist Gulzar for the song "Jai Ho", becoming the first and only Indian to date to have won more than one Academy Award. Rahman also holds the record for most nominations for an Indian with five total nominations to date, followed by Ismail Merchant with four nominations (three for Best Picture and once for Live Action Short).
At the 95th Academy Awards, three different Indian productions received Oscar nominations, with both RRR (feature film) and The Elephant Whisperers (documentary short film) winning among their respective categories and thus the former became 'The first Indian Full-length Feature film' and the latter became 'The first Indian Documentary short film' to win the Oscars. Vikas Sathaye is the only Indian to have received the Oscars in the technical category.
Winners and nominees In the following tables, the years correspond to the year in which the films were released; the Academy Award ceremony is held the following year.
Honorary awards
+ Year Recipient Note 1992 "In recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world."
Competitive Awards + Year Nominee(s)/recipient(s) Film Category Result 1958 Mother India Mother India Best Foreign Language Film 1961 Best Short Subject (Live Action) 1969 Best Documentary (Short Subject) 1978 Bead Game Best Animated Short Film 1979 Best Documentary (Short Subject) 1983 Gandhi Best Costume Design Best Original Score 1987 Best Picture 1989 Salaam Bombay! Salaam Bombay! Best Foreign Language Film 1993 Howards End Best Picture 1994 2002 Lagaan Lagaan Best Foreign Language Film 2005 Little Terrorist Best Short Subject (Live Action) 2009 Slumdog Millionaire Best Sound Mixing Gulzar Best Original Song () Best Original Score Best Original Song () 2011 127 Hours Best Original Score Best Original Song () 2013 Life of Pi Best Original Song () 2022 Writing with Fire Best Documentary Feature 2023 Chandrabose RRRBest Original Song () The Elephant WhisperersBest Documentary (Short Subject) All That BreathesBest Documentary Feature
Scientific and technical awards + Year Nominee(s)/recipient(s) Category Note 2018 Academy Award for Technical Achievement Shared the award with John Coyle, Brad Hurndell and Shane Buckham
See also List of Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film List of Indian Golden Globe Award winners and nominees List of Indian winners and nominees of the British Academy Film Awards List of Indian winners and nominees at the Cannes Film Festival List of Indian Grammy Award winners and nominees
Footnotes
References